Stars

Stars are important to both audiences and producers, this is mainly because they provide expectations for the producers to meet and for audiences to have an idea of what the film will be like. Actors make the transition to films star when they have recognizable ‘star qualities’ that both the audience and producers can identify.

Audiences generally have opinions on stars that are either positive or negative. This is important because stars have the ability to generate more money for films and gain higher box office revenue. Star qualities are an indicator of what audiences can expect as film stars tend to play the same or similar roles, an example of this is Robert Downey Junior who usually possesses the role of a fast-talking and witty character who is generally big headed and intelligent. His most popular portrayal of this character is Iron Man/Tony Stark. This character shapes our ideological belief that the western world, more specifically the USA are militarily superior to the rest of the world because of Stark’s intelligence and industry, the enemies are also middle Eastern – real life enemies of the US, this reinforces beliefs that America already has and makes us like Downey’s character even more. Downey is also such a film star because of the similarities between him and his character. It is mostly indistinguishable to tell the difference between his roles and his in life personality. The use of well known stars offers security to the producers and the audience because of the certain type of character that they would play.

Stars are important to producers as they have the ability to gain more money as their own fan bases would see the film because of their work in them. They also set expectations to be met so that the film will please audiences, this means that the producers would have an easier time creating and writing the character certain actors would play. Producers may also base characters on actors, so that casting is an easier process.